Journey so far…….

Posted: 2 Apr 2014

Well, we have been on a roller coaster ride thus far, so much work complete yet we still have lot’s to do!

We are really pleased with the interviews carried out so far, so much untold stories, history, experiences and wisdom, which have now been captured and will remain captured at the New Library Of Birmingham. Each interview has it’s own journey in more ways than one. One is the actual story, the other is how we bring that story to you. As each interview has to be scheduled, transcribed, edited, audio proofed with editing, all photos/ correspondence are resized, photo shopped, edited and proofed too. All the audio has to be edited and then uploaded to sound cloud and then linked to the website, a huge task to say the least.

We also have been busy promoting the project all over Birmingham and have good feedback so far. A website has been finally put together, designed by our team, taking over 3 months as we wanted to capture the journey ‘From Mirpur to Birmingham’ in it’s essence. The design will run through all the marketing, website and exhibition too, hence why it took as long as it did. It has been nicely put together by 1updesign a company we really do recommend to all, they have been brilliant!

Our website is now live, where one can hear the interviews in the comfort of their own home, have a look through historical correspondence, photos and other materials and read a summary of each interview in English. This has been hard work! (who thought of this for an idea??!!) We also have good social media interaction through our facebook and twitter accounts.

We are in the process of another big task, which involves cataloging, archiving and filing all the materials! (fun times!) this will commence this week. Then we have some work to do on the exhibition too.

Our volunteers have been doing some amazing work with support from our sessional staff team. We are hoping to add to some more volunteers to the team, to help us develop the project, carrying out more interviews, social/ media marketing, transcription, supporting us with the archiving and putting together the exhibition materials.

‘From Mirpur to Birmingham’ has been a fascinating journey thus far, emotional, hardwork, has had it’s ups and downs, has been inspirational yet has also taken it’s toll on occasion, however it has been WORTH it.